TMNT #87 Preview and Discussion
 

Preview here.

Good Lord, Ch'rell is an absolute badass in this.

I like the Cylon mohawk on Chrell's exosuit. :tlol:

He's been in the story for all of 3-4 pages and Ch'rell is already overshadowing Bishop. This should be fun!

Well, Bishop hasn't had a chance to come out and play yet. As soon as his hands get dirty, though... :tevil:

He did absolutely wreck the Mutanimals in what was, in my opinion, one of the coolest moments in IDW TMNT. Though I guess he was using Slash and his lackeys to do that. We still haven't seen him actually get his hands dirty. But from the previews we've gotten for #87 and #88, it looks like that's about to change.

He did a pretty great job of kicking Ray's ass without using a mutant mind-slave. Just his own two flesh-and-blood... er, his own two hands? :tlol:

Besting Ray is a far cry from besting all four Turtles at once, though. I'd like to see him kick as much ass as his 2003 cartoon counterpart, but we'll see how he does... So far I'm not very impressed.

Yeah, I think we'll see that in these next two issues.

I was just pointing out, Bishop has gotten his own hands dirty already.

Yep, indeed he has. But any of the current Mutanimals (sans Slash, obviously) is a "safe" opponent for one such as Bishop considering what we've seen of him so far. He's yet to go up against anyone who could pose a real challenge, and then his willingness to get his hands dirty might change drastically.

In just those 3 pages I'm already far more interested in IDW's Ch'rell than I thought. I thought he might have felt too much like a rehash of Krang in this version (since IDW's Krang was serious and not silly), but Ch'rell seems just different enough so far not to feel like a re-tread.

As said I don't think Ch'rell can become Shredder in this incarnation, especially with the knowledge Shredder is coming back to life, so I do hope Ch'rell continues to go down a different path than feeling like Krang 2.0. So far in these 3 pages he seems very interesting and pissed, and he will most likely turn on the Utroms in the next story arc.

Can you imagine what it would've been like if Krang and Ch'rell had both been active at the same time? :o Every single effort made against them would've failed. Even if the Turtles and the Foot legit teamed up, there's just no way to overcome the two of them at once, with their mindset and firepower.

Actually, could we maybe get a What If?-style one-shot out of that concept, IDW?

I'm not so sure. Ch'rell's a great strategist but he's just one man, or, well, Utrom. If the Foot and the Turtles teamed up, they'd still be way too outgunned.

The Foot would've been wiped out in the Burnow battle if it hadn't been for the Turtles forcing Krang to retreat and then defeating him "behind the scenes". If you add another Utrom in a battle suit to guard the Technodrome, they'd all be dead. Don't forget Krang had an army of his own. Bebop and Rocksteady might tip the scales, but they wouldn't have been enough to keep the Technodrome from being activated, and then it's game over for Earth. The only one who could possibly constitute a spanner in the works was Stockman, but even then we saw how swiftly and easily Krang dealt with his betrayal.

The thing is, the reason why the Foot would've been wiped out in the Burnow battle was because the Turtles betrayed them. If Ch'rell was out and kicking, then you could certainly bet they would've taken a different approach.

But each side still only had the forces they had. Infiltration wouldn't work, an Utrom isn't exactly a prime assassination target... They're all ninjas, so even if they allied for real, they would probably bank on a diversion all the same while the real attack comes from elsewhere, only this time there's no one to divert because one Utrom goes out to the front lines (wherever and however those take place) and the other stays behind to make sure everything goes smoothly with the Technodrome. There aren't that many options on how to approach the situation, nor did they have that much time to consider them.

Assuming everything happens mostly the same, with the exception of Ch'rell being there, the Hamato-Foot alliance is toast. Bebop and Rocksteady making too big a dent in Krang's forces? He sets Leatherhead free to stall them. Once the terraforming process begins, none of them can do anything about it anyway... I just don't see how it could work in the good guys' favor, which is half the fun in these kinds of stories.

Oh man, I think they could have taken over the Earth long before the turtles even had a chance to exist.

But in the case that they did exist while they were operating together...it means that when Krang was on Neutrino, someone would have been staying behind on Burnow Island to protect the Utroms. Karai might not have been able to get the Ooze because Ch'rell was there.

Maybe when the invasion on Burnow happens, Ch'rell goes to stop Stockman and Honeycutt from shutting down the Technodrome, so Krang would be able to kill Shredder; and if he's in that absolute monster of a suit, the turtles might have some trouble taking him down.



The thing I think about is what if it was Ma'riell who stayed out of stasis.

Honestly, I'd say there's too many wildcards for us to tell. Would Clan Hamato and Foot Clan manage to work together successfully? Would Bebop and Rocksteady actually manage to make a dent in Krang's forces? Would Leatherhead turn against his captors? And then, of course, there's lots of convenient things that would certainly happen to turn the tides of battle.

It would certainly be an interesting battle.

Ma'riell screws Krang over to save the Earthlings, Ch'rell helps him slaughter them for the sake of New Utrominon. Funny how things work out.

I assume both Clans could certainly turn a temporary blind eye to their feud, considering what would be a stake, but it wouldn't 100% tension free. At least before they hit the field. Bebop and Rocksteady are their usual brand of chaos, they could certainly harm Krang's forces quite a bit, but the thing with Leatherhead is, he's guaranteed to turn on pretty much anyone. In my scenario, he'd just be set free without ever knowing why or who did it, and the first people he'd come across are the invading forces. There would probably be some words exchanged with B&R before he decides to pounce on them for whatever reason. Not exactly the most friendly of mutants, that one. And yeah, plenty of convenient ways and last minute trump cards. You'll notice I left out the Mutanimals, for instance... Maybe even Kitsune could intervene in the ninja alliance's favor... It would be interesting for sure!

Damn you, IDW, for putting out such a rich comic! :D

Given Krang's mental state during the Utrom Empire mini, I actually think Krang would have taken advise from Ma'riell.

He originally intended to take over Earth using mutants, then changed his mind to the Technodrome.

Since Ma'riell was disappointed he had ended up like Quanin in the end, I think she may have been level-headed enough to convince him to find another way. Maybe she could have been able to manage both of them, just barely.


I think a large part of Krang's decision making was because there was no one he respected enough to reign him in. Ma'riell and Lorqa would have fit the bill (but Lorqa was probably a bit too old to have been an advisor and may not have lasted the full duration of the others in stasis).
Of course he would also have respected Ch'rell, but he would not have reigned him in.





I just realized this was the preview for the next issue! So I'm just gonna...
Wow, Ch'rell is processing everything a little better than I thought. Still pretty p*ssed off, but granted, with everything that's happened, it's better to take them at bits at a time by level of importance.